Connectedness of opposite-flag geometries in Moufang polygons (Q1306927): Difference between revisions

A generalized \(n\)-gon, \(n\geq 2\), is a rank 2 geometry whose incidence graph has diameter \(n\) and girth \(2n\), and each vertex has valency \(\geq 3\). A generalized polygon (introduced by J. Tits in 1959) is a generalized \(n\)-gon for some \(n\geq 2\). In this paper the authors view generalized polygons as geometries of rank 2 whose elements are points and lines. A flag is an incident point-line pair. Let \(\Gamma\) be a generalized \(n\)-gon, \(n\geq 4\), \(F\) a fixed flag in \(\Gamma\), then the set \(\Gamma^{(F)}\) of all flags opposite \(F\) in \(\Gamma\) together with all points and lines occurring in these flags is a rank 2 sub-geometry of \(\Gamma\), so-called opposite-flag geometry. If \(\Gamma\) is a Moufang polygon and \(F\) any flag of \(\Gamma\), then the geometry \(\Gamma^{(F)}\) is always connected, up to some small cases. The main result of this work gives a complete determination of all Moufang polygons for which this geometry is disconnected.